AtDTdA: (9) 250

Thu May 17 06:35:00 CDT 2007

 250 The Chums in Venice (continued)

Page 250:
St Mark's Basilica (Basilica di San Marco) in Venice
http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Image:Stmarks.jpg

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Dr. Cantor
Georg Cantor (1845 - 1918), German mathematician. Cantor's Theorem is what
is most relevant to his mention here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantor%27s_theorem
*wiki*

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the Low Countries
Often used to indicate the Netherlands, it actually refers to the historical
region of /de Nederlanden/: those principalities located on and around the
mostly low-lying land around the delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse
rivers.  This area very roughly corresponds to the countries of the
Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. This region was called Greater
Netherlands by irredentists who sought to unite it. This historical region
also was referred to as "The Netherlands" in English.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_Countries

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the plano-convex designs of Griendl von Ach
For a brief history of the compound-lens microscope, and the roles played by
the Italians and the Dutch, including Griendl von Ach, see:
http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Microscope
*wiki*

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Iceland spar
Rather than reprint the multitude of info on Iceland spar, I've just
collected links from previous posts and basic references:

in Electricity History:
http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0610&msg=109184

and Tunguska:
http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0610&msg=109185

in fiction:
http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0610&msg=109186

in Glenn Scheper's Worldview:
http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0702&msg=115407

pynchonwiki on:
http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=I

properties, importance, and history of:
http://www.nagt.org/files/nagt/jge/abstracts/Kristjansson_v50n4p419.pdf

and double refraction:
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/birefringence/index.html

and the vikings:
http://www.polarization.com/viking/viking.html

The Mineral Calcite:
http://www.galleries.com/minerals/carbonat/calcite/calcite.htm

Birefringence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birefringence

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcite
http://geology.about.com/library/bl/images/blcalcite.htm
http://www.gemhut.com/calcite.htm

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conjugate points
A point so related to another that an object at one is imaged at the other.
http://cancerweb.ncl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/omd?conjugate+point

See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_Riemannian_and_metric_geometry
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/geoopt/conjug.html

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"if one accepts the idea that maps begin as dreams, pass through a finite
life in the world, and resume as dreams again, we may say that these
paramorphoscopes of Iceland spar [...] reveal the architecture of dream, of
all that escapes the net-work of ordinary latitude and longitude...."

Today's mediocre essay question:
Explain what the hell Professor Svegli is talking about.

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fugues
noun
1 Music: a contrapuntal composition in which a short melody or phrase is
introduced by one part and successively taken up by others.

2 Psychiatry: loss of awareness of one's identity, often coupled with flight
from one's usual environment.

— ORIGIN Latin fuga 'flight'.

[OED]

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frescoes
noun
a painting done on wet plaster on a wall or ceiling, in which the colours
become fixed as the plaster dries.
— ORIGIN Italian, 'cool, fresh'
[OED]

Fresco (plural frescoes) is any of several related painting types. The
[name] comes from the Italian affresco which derives from fresco ("fresh"),
which has Germanic origins. Fresco paintings can be done in two ways: Buon
fresco paintings are done on wet plaster, while a secco paintings are
completed on dried plaster. The former is usually the more authentic form.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frescoes

http://gardkarlsen.com/italy/entrence_basilica.jpg
http://www.venice-luxury-hotel.com/images/luxury-hotel-venice-italy03.jpg
http://www.digital-photo-web.com/image-files/venice-italy-pictures-p4081071.jpg
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16705/16705-h/images/62.jpg

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Istrian stone
A marble found near Trieste, from which Venice is largely built.

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a forbidden coastline
Africa?  (Mark is considered the founder of Christianity in Africa; he also
died there.  See p. 251.)

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prophetic vision of St. Mark
Mark the Evangelist (1st century) is traditionally believed to be the author
of the Gospel of Mark and a companion of Peter. From this site (
http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/brown-venice.html): "...a prophetic
dream that Mark was said to have experienced during his earlier, supposed
ministry in the area of the Venetian lagoon. In it he was visited by an
angel who told him that he would find his final resting place on the very
site where San Marco would later be built." In the first century there was
no settlement worth mentioning in the Lagoon yet. The prophecy was
"fulfilled" in 828 when the saint's remains stolen on orders of Doge
Giustiniano Participazio in Alexandria were brought to Venice. Wikipedia
entry St. Mark is represented by a winged lion and is the patron saint of
Venice [3].
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_the_Evangelist
[3] http://www.catholic-forum.com/SAINTS/saintm08.htm
*wiki*

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but in reverse
Miles now takes the place of the angel. Who or what is the "Being" and what
form does the prophecy take?
*wiki*

In St. Mark's vision, an angel appeared to Mark and informed him that his
remains would one day end up in his present location, which later became
Venice. Here, Miles seems to assume the form of the angel (in the form of a
lion?) and the 'promise' Pynchon mentions seems to be the angel's promise to
Mark.
*wiki*

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Rialtine marshes and lagoon
Venice is built on the Rialtine islands in the marshy Venetian Lagoon along
the Adriatic Sea in northeast Italy.

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"as they had been in the first century A.D."
The traditional date for the foundation of Venice is A.D. 421, but it is
probable that the lagoon islands were inhabited by fisherfolk from the
earliest antiquity.  The first big settlement consisted of refugees from the
mainland fleeing the Huns, Goths, and Lombards, especially between 476 and
568.

http://www.oldandsold.com/articles03/venice2.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice#Origins_and_History

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the dark cormorants
The Cormorants are a fairly large family of [fish-eating birds] residing
along freshwater and saltwater shores around the world

http://www.montereybay.com/creagrus/cormorants.html

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huge fricative breathing
fricative: Any of several sounds produced by air flowing through a
constriction in the oral cavity and typically producing a sibilant, hissing,
or buzzing quality; a fricative consonant. English F and S are fricatives.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Fricative

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scirocco
Sirocco, scirocco, jugo or, rarely, siroc is a Mediterranean wind that comes
from the Sahara and reaches hurricane speeds in North Africa and Southern
Europe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirocco

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some Being
Interrogation's Officer Chick Counterfly's speech in the next paragraph
implies the Being and the winged lion are not the same.  So who or what is
this Being?  A trespasser?  St. Mark?

Any comments on Miles' vision?

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lateener
A lateen (from a la trina, meaning triangular) is a triangular sail set on a
long yardarm mounted at an angle on the mast, and running in a fore-and-aft
direction. Originally found on sailing ships, the lateen is used today in a
slightly different form on small boats like the highly popular Sunfish.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateen

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"neither sails, masts, nor oars"
Not a craft that is driven by the wind or human muscle. To say more could
spoil a plot point.
*wiki*

(I'm just going to shove a literary allusion in here because I want more of
them):

The boat without sails and the entranced Miles recalls Coleridge's "Rime of
the Ancient Mariner":

"For can it be a ship that comes onward without wind or tide?" (167)

"/The Mariner hath been cast into a trance; for the angelic power causeth
the vessel to drive northward faster than human life could endure./

    FIRST VOICE
    'But why drives on that ship so fast,
    Without or wave or wind?'

    SECOND VOICE
    'The air is cut away before,
    And closes from behind.

    Fly, brother, fly! more high, more high!
    Or we shall be belated:
    For slow and slow that ship will go,
    When the Mariner's trance is abated.'"

(422-429)
http://etext.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/Rime_Ancient_Mariner.html

See also p. 245: "a trembling apparition in the distance, off to starboard"
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